Winter in Manchester 2020 – the need to motivate!!
Monday, 7th December 2020Guest blog by Paul Clarke, UK Business Mentoring
It has never been more important for Business Owners to motivate their Staff.
We are fast approaching Halloween and this year I guess it will be completely different- Zoom trick or treat followed by Amazon delivery of sweets and only same households participating.
Whilst there may be those green lights outside Manchester town hall pictured above it will certainly be celebrated differently.
It is though a good time of the year to reflect on the reason we are asked “Trick or Treat” as it has NEVER BEEN MORE IMPORTANT FOR BUSINESS OWNER TO MOTIVATE THEIR STAFF.
In response to the question “trick or treat” the children will be offered sweets as a treat and not asked to perform a ‘trick’ – I can just see the disgust on the faces if no sweets are offered!
The history of ‘trick or treat’ may go back to the days when we believed that the souls of the dead roamed the earth at this time and would need to be appeased. So how do you appease your staff?!
When a business owner employs staff, they immediately become a leader and manager and the power of motivation (the Treat) or understanding what exactly motivates their staff cannot be underestimated. Now it’s not all about giving out gifts or sweets to keep staff motivated or appeased, actually far from it. There are many factors that motivate staff and keep them ‘engaged’ with the business. In our role as Business Mentors we work with all different sizes of businesses, across a host of industries and there are two key findings that we would like to share with you.
- Giving an increase in salary will motivate a member of staff but, only for a very short period of time. Once that member of staff is used to receiving that new monthly figure (normally after month one) it ceases to motivate. However, if a person feels that they are not being paid sufficient for what they do (against the industry norm or a colleague for example) then it will demotivate them until it is addressed.
- One of the greatest motivators for staff is commonly forgotten. It costs absolutely nothing but has a huge impact on how a member of staff feels in terms of being recognised and valued. It is quite simply the boss (or line manager) saying ‘Thank you’ In these increasingly busy times, it is all too easy to forget to use these words.
We are often asked what does a business mentor do when they ‘review a business’ One of the things we do is to speak to all the staff (where possible) and surprisingly, in nine out of ten businesses that we review, the majority of staff will tell us they hardly ever get thanked for what they do.
When did you last thank your staff for a piece of work, a job well done?
Motivated happy staff are more productive – fact.
In terms of other areas that motivate staff and make them want to stay with a company here are our top seven key motivational factors:-
- Challenge Growth & Development
- Quality of work life/Environment
- Company Culture & Purpose
- Relationships Co-Workers & Managers
- Leadership Credibility/Trust
- Recognition Status/Valued
- Reward Package
Remember:
- There is no magic formula for motivating staff
- Each person has different needs, those needs depend on their personal circumstances (a twenty year old may be far more motivated by money than a sixty year old)
- Successful managers motivate their people by their individual need
Quick exercise-can you articulate what motivates each of your members of staff or your management team within your business.
When did you last test this assumption and how are you going to keep motivating them individually?
As the leader in your business ensure you plan for winter 2020 where staff motivation will be crucial to your success.
Please feel free to contact myself via email where I would be happy to discuss these and many more ideas via a free mentoring session
Article written by Manchester Business Mentor Paul Clarke